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Join Date

Dec 2012

Location

Norco, Ca.

Posts

257

Today in my local paper there was a brief article in the NFL section, they were quoting K Lewis. He has the the most deflected balls in the league 23. He points out that they reason he does not pick the ball is that he has to make a choice. Tackle the receiver or go for the ball, if he goes for ball and misses ball and it is caught good chance it is a TD. Now this is not news to anyone who plays the game. But, it makes you think these guys are playing a game at a speed you can't feel until you've been there. He, they must make this decision in a micro second. Hit or miss on the ball and it could taken to the house. I am sure many of Steeler cover guys are thinking if they catch and I tackle then we can possibly get them on the next play. All this during the snap of a ball and play that last between 3 to 5 seconds. Tough stuff

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It's about being conservative on the backend and not giving up big plays. And making QBs make mistakes with pressure. The problem is we can't generate pressure.

There's quite a few plays this season where opposing QBs have forever and still can't find anyone open. We're playing pretty great on the backend. Our front 7 can't do anything and that's where the problem lies.

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Join Date

Aug 2008

Location

N.Y.

Posts

4,618

Yup, force the QB to make a quick decision and hopefully force him into making a mistake without giving up the long play.
Thats why a QB like Brady can spread our D out and dink and dunk dowwn the field.
One thing I noticed a lot this year is certain players on defense seem to be tipping their hands on whether or not they are blitzing.
(Foote does this a lot)

A lot of this is timing and I think opposing offenses are constantly changing up their snap counts.

I wish people would/could leave politics out of a Steelers Football Forum.

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Join Date

Mar 2008

Location

Under your bed

Posts

9,072

This type of defense shortens the game and almost ensures that the Steelers have a chance to win. The Steelers want the other team to have to take their time to move the ball down the field using clock. The Steeler offense isn't a juggernaut, so shortening the game and giving Ben a chance is a good recipe for success. As long as the Steeler offense keeps turnovers, penalties and three and outs to a minimum the defense will keep the Steelers in the game.

Secondly, the longer the drive, the greater chance that the offense will make a mistake like a penalty, turnover, dropped catch, a sack, etc. and the Steelers will force a punt.

it's hard to watch because it looks like the defense is getting carved up and they are, but typically at the end of the day if the offense can score 24 points the Steelers will win. There have been some anomalies to this principle this year, but all in all the system works, it's just difficult to watch.

Just my take on the defense...

Pappy

The referee said that you hit Brian Sipe too hard. Did you hit him too hard?
I hit him as hard as I could - Jack Lambert

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It's about being conservative on the backend and not giving up big plays. And making QBs make mistakes with pressure. The problem is we can't generate pressure.

There's quite a few plays this season where opposing QBs have forever and still can't find anyone open. We're playing pretty great on the backend. Our front 7 can't do anything and that's where the problem lies.

Agre the pass rush is the problem. But why wouldn't it be? We all know what is going to happen. The DL's first read is to stop the run and control the blockers to keep the LBs "clean". Then we will typically rush either Harrsion or Woodley but rarely both at the same time. There fore the offense has 5 OL and usually one other blocker to deal with 4 maybe 5 rushers at most. Since the DL's first read is play the run and then go after the passer you essentially give the QB 2-3 seconds before the DL commits to going after the QB and they usually have one or two men on them. Plus, since we have bulked up our DEs to play in LeBeau's stop the run first scheme they are bullrushers versus being able to use a speed rush to turn the corner. What do we struggle against most bullrushes or speed rushes. It is the latter.

It is essentially the same thing every play, every game. Guess what? We all see it and so does the league and they have all adjusted for it because they know 90% of the time it will be Harrison or Woodley with a very rare (far too rare IMO) inside blitz. They also know they can lower the percentage of both OLBs by leaking a RB into the flat and forcing the OLB to cover them. Therefore the offense over matches our rush with 5 or 6 blocking 3 or 4. The defense does good to put up meaningless rankings stats but they are no loonger a big play defense like they use to be.

The fact is we are getting the lowest sack totals and INT totals in decades but we do the same thing week after week.